my pretty little girl, can you figure it out?
by thingyoulovemost
Summary: five times Emma Swan realized she's her father's daughter, and one time he beat her to the punch.


**A/N: So I've had the beginnings of this in my drafts for a while, and I just couldn't find the inspiration to really get it going until last night's promo for the ****remaining episodes of the season with the Daddy Charming kiss to Emma's head that got my creative juices flowing and bam, this happened. It covers the episodes Queen of Hearts, The Cricket Game, In the Name of the Brother, The Miller's Daughter, and Selfless, Brave, and True. I really hope you like it :)**

******Disclaimer: Not my characters, just my words! Credit to the brilliantly evil minds of Kitsis and Horowitz.**

_One._

Emma Swan clutched her son as tight as she could against her body without crushing him as they all piled into Granny's for dinner upon her and Snow's return from the Enchanted Forest. She slid into the booth next to Henry and the dwarves, with her parents (who she was pretty sure were glued together at this point, not that she blamed them) sitting across from them with Red.

Granny brought over what seemed to be a never-ending supply of food, which Emma didn't mind a bit. She actually had to remember to pace herself because her body had gotten used to ingesting things like chimera while they were in the Enchanted Forest. Needless to say, Emma was glad they were back to a place where the food was normal and not gag-inducing.

The atmosphere was loud and happy, and the joy of being reunited with the people they loved most filled the air almost tangibly. Henry was snuggled into her side as close as he could manage without actually being on her lap, which made her feel like her heart might actually burst out of her chest. She felt like she needed to keep pinching herself because this had to be a dream, being back in Storybrooke with her family. Any minute now she'd wake up because a stick or a rock was digging into her back as she attempted to sleep on the cold, hard forest floor. But no, this was real. They'd done it, her and Snow. They'd defeated Cora (for now, at least) and they were back where they belonged, with their family. She was trying not to think about just how exactly they'd managed to rid themselves of Cora, of the moment when something inside of her had blasted the crazy witch away. She'd save that for later, when they'd all had a moment to breathe.

Emma looked up from her burger and fries to find her father looking at her with an emotion in his steady gaze she couldn't quite place, and he then gave her a tentative, albeit awkward smile upon being caught staring. David. This man that she'd spent all of a few hours with post-curse, knowing who he really was to her. During which she'd tried to reconcile the spineless David Nolan she'd known under the curse with this man, a man whose very being embodied strength and leadership and bravery. This man who she didn't know, yet there was something familiar in him. Maybe it was the part of her that inherently knew him to be her father, or maybe it was the parts of herself she saw in him that made her feel almost like she was looking in a mirror when she returned his gaze. Yes, she looks almost eerily like her mother, but her features are sharper, more defined, like his. Like the nose. They have the same nose, Emma thinks as he suddenly somehow tears his gaze from Snow and catches her looking, causing her face to flush in embarrassment at being caught as she quickly averts her eyes (his eyes, she thinks idly) and strikes up a conversation with a more than eager Henry.

No, she doesn't know this man. Not yet, not really. But it's the similarities between them that are plain as day that make her feel the bond they share and make her want to know him. Prince Charming, David, her father.

_Two._

Emma felt like she'd spent the better part of the day running around town with her parents in the aftermath of Archie's murder trying to prove them wrong, trying to prove that Regina was innocent for once, only to find that they had been right all along. She felt… angry. Angry at herself for being wrong about Regina. She just couldn't believe her gut instinct had been wrong, considering it never had before. Her confidence was shaken. Hell, _she_ was shaken.

She'd had to tell her eleven-year old son that the woman who'd raised him killed somebody he cared about. If it hadn't been for David, she wasn't sure she would've been able to do it. He'd given her the quiet strength she'd needed in that moment without even trying. He was good at that, she'd found. At taking charge of a bad situation without a second thought, doing what needed to be done while making everyone involved feel like everything was gonna be okay, even if it didn't seem like it in the moment. He had a fierce tenacity about him, a quiet perseverance she'd come to admire. She wants to be like that.

All those thoughts ran through Emma's mind as she sat on the couch icing her sore ribs, after her confrontation with Regina and being thrown across the lawn had been worse than she'd originally thought. She heard the rustle of a curtain and looked up to find her father regarding her in a sleepy state of confusion. "Emma?" he questioned as he made his way over to where she was sitting and took a seat next to her.

"Sorry if I woke you, I just couldn't sleep because of…" she looked down, "well, you know."

David gave her a sympathetic, almost pained look as he said, "Yeah, she got you pretty good, didn't she?"

"You could say that again." She replied with a sarcastic eye roll. He gave her a smile, which she returned. She was finding the once slightly awkward moments between them were disappearing the more they got to know each other. They were silent for a beat before he said, "Listen, I just wanted to tell you I thought you handled telling Henry really well. I knew you could. You're stronger than you know, Emma."

She blushed at his praise and averted her eyes. He thought she was strong? "You… you really think so?" _Ugh, what was that?_ She cringed inwardly. Why did she always seem to revert to a blushing little girl around him?

David smiled and gripped her knee with his hand and said, "I know so." He paused, and met her gaze as he said, "Emma, you're one of the strongest people I've ever met. You can take anything that comes at you." He said it with such conviction in his voice that she found herself believing him.

She couldn't help what came out of her mouth after that when she looked down and said softly, "I get it from you, you know." His head shot up in surprise at her words, and she gave him a little half-smile. He seemed at a loss for words, so she gave him a reassuring nod and said, "It's okay, you don't have to say anything. I just… thanks for, you know, being there for me today when I needed you."

David's eyes pricked with tears as he smiled at his daughter and said so resolutely, "Always, Emma."

_Three._

Emma rifled through her dresser drawers as fast as she could manage, grabbing whatever clothes her hands touched and stuffing them into her suitcase. She was so absorbed in her task and her thoughts that she barely registered her father entering her room and taking a seat on her bed next to her suitcase.

"Emma," he said, trying to break her from her reverie. She made a noise acknowledging his presence but continued throwing her clothes in her luggage. "Emma," he said again, this time grabbing her hand before she could turn back around and grab anything else. She finally met his gaze, her eyes almost frantic. "Sweetheart, you've been up all night, you need to rest." He said.

"I can't, I don't have time, I still have to pack Henry's stuff and I-" She stammered, but he cut her off.

"Your mother and I will take care of that. You've been running on adrenaline for 24 hours, Emma. You have to sleep." He reasoned with her in a no-nonsense tone.

She heaved a defeated sigh, and found she didn't have the energy to put up a fight. The sigh turned into a yawn, to which David smiled and said, "I thought so." She sat on her bed and fell back onto her pillow, not having enough energy to even pull back the covers. As her father turned to leave, she softly said, "Hey, David?"

He turned and replied, "Yeah?"

She looked down. "Do you… do you think everything's gonna be okay?"

His face softened as he said, "Of course it is." Emma glanced up at him and he thought there's nothing in the world he wouldn't do if that face asked him to.

"Just… with Gold's threat and strangers coming to Storybrooke things are starting to get a little crazy around here. Like, crazier than usual." She said, giving him a pointed look.

"Yeah, but we can handle it," he said with a wink, making her laugh because that's so something she would do (she does it a lot, really), diffuse a stressful situation with humor. She'd been noticing little similarities like that between them more and more, and it never fails to make her feel she finally has the family she'd longed for since she was small.

"Yeah," she said. "We can."

He smiled softly at her and nodded as he said, "Have faith, Emma." That's what he does best, she thinks. His unwavering faith.

"I will," she says, giving him a small but sincere smile. For the first time since she and Snow had returned from the Enchanted Forest, Emma felt hope that things really would be okay.

_Four._

Emma had just picked up Henry from Granny's where Ruby was watching him and brought him back to the apartment. He still was giving her the cold shoulder for lying to him about Neal, which made her heart feel like it was going to break in two, though she knew she deserved it.

When they walked in, Henry went straight for the stairs and she sighed. She was so distracted she almost didn't notice her father sitting on the couch with his head in his hands, looking as utterly devastated as she felt. Yes, they'd defeated Cora, but at Snow's hand. Emma knows her mother, knows how _good _she still is despite what she'd done. But she also knows this is going to be hard for Snow to get past. She's going to need them, Emma knows. So she walks over to where David sits and joins him.

They sit in silence for a while, each other's presence providing a comfort where words aren't needed. Eventually, David breaks the silence.

"I'm proud of you, you know." He says to her, not even a sliver of doubt in his voice.

She looks up, surprised. "What?" She'd expected him to say something about Snow and how she was currently in a vegetative state of remorse, and he'd caught her completely off guard.

"You were so brave today, Emma. You protected us, with your magic." He replied.

"Yeah," she scoffed. "For all of what, five minutes before Cora and Regina broke through it with their fireball…" she gestured with her hands, "… thing."

"That's not true, you did it again when you and Gold and… Neal," David hesitated on his name, trying not to show his disdain for the man he doesn't know but knows broke his baby's heart, "…went in the back of Gold's shop."

"How did you-" Emma started, but he didn't let her finish.

"Gold told me. You were brave, Emma. You were. You _are_." He said with his steady gaze.

Those kinds of comments from her father filled her with a warm feeling she'd never experienced before and she wasn't sure she'd ever get used to it. "Yeah, well, where do you think I get it from?" She says with a pointed look and a warm half-smile.

It's those words that bring a smile to his face despite all that's happened in the past 24 hours. It's those words that give him the momentum to take a risk as he wraps his arm around his daughter and holds his breath, awaiting her reaction. It surprises them both when she only leans into his side and rests her head on his shoulder, enjoying the warmth of her father's embrace.

_Five._

Emma always knew she was stubborn, but now she's realized where she gets it from as she watched her father baby her mother, who still won't get out of bed. They're both stubborn, which makes Emma especially so. She'd finally had enough and let her father know that it had to stop. The only way Snow would get better was if she'd get out of bed herself and do something about how she felt. She had to make the choice for herself.

After the craziness of the day had subsided and the dynamite removed from anywhere Henry would find it, Emma collapsed on the couch in an exhausted heap upon putting Henry to bed. She figured her parents were asleep already and she wanted to follow suit, but the couch was so comfortable and her room was all the way upstairs. She'd just close her eyes for a minute, she decided. Then she'd go upstairs.

She blinked her eyes open in confusion to find David standing above her, having gently shaken her awake.

"Hey, sweetheart, what are you doing on the couch?" He asked.

"I...the couch was comfy..." She mumbled sleepily, attempting to burrow further into the couch cushions.

He chuckled gently and said, "C'mon, you should go upstairs. Your bed's much more comfortable than the couch, I'd bet."

"But that's so far away," she whined.

He laughed again and sighed, "Alright."

Suddenly, she found herself airborne, being held by strong arms that had tenderly scooped her off the couch before she could protest. She found she was too tired to care, and leaned her head against her father's chest. When she snuggled into him as he carried her from the living room up the stairs, he was sure his heart was far too big for his chest. He gently laid her down on the bed next to a sleeping Henry, who snuggled against his mother in his sleep. He could see Emma was already drifting back to sleep, so he dared to lean in and place a kiss to her forehead and felt his eyes water against his will when she smiled in her sleep.

_One._

David watched his daughter as she talked to August-turned-Pinocchio and felt his heart swell. He was amazed by how quickly she'd jumped to action in the face of danger, and how fast she'd taken charge of the situation at hand. She really was his, wasn't she? His and Snow's, the product of their love, their Emma. She blew him away every time he looked at her. She was so beautiful, just like her mother, but he saw himself in her as well. Not just her facial features, but her personality, too. She had Snow's fire and spirit, but she had his strength and bravery in the face of danger, among other things. She was incredible and amazing and she was _his. _His darling Emma.


End file.
